The teenager is the first person to be sentenced for murder since a recent change in the law for sentencing juveniles to life.
A teenager will learn in March if he will receive a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Thomas Dooley in a Tralee cemetery. The sentencing is significant as the teenager is the first person to be sentenced for murder since a change in the law regarding life sentences for juveniles. Five men, including Dooley's brother, brother-in-law and cousins, have already received mandatory life sentences for the murder. The teenager was armed with a baseball bat and deemed of "medium culpability" by his lawyer. The judge must decide the appropriate sentence, as she can depart from a mandatory life sentence due to the recent change in law.
